African Blackwood vs Ebony

coyote711

coyote711

Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
1,679
I see GEC has had a few runs of late with African Blackwood covers. I have a fair number of GEC knives with Ebony covers and I like 'em - and the blacker the better. I'd like to know how African Blackwood compares to Ebony - Harder wood? Tighter grain? Less streaking? Blacker? Thanks for any insight! ;)
 
I have quite a large stock of both blackwood and ebony. If Madagascar ebony and of high grade..it is much blacker. Blackwood is black with brown streaks....subtle but brown streaks. I much prefer Madagascar ebony...jet black. There are literally hundreds of ebonies and have to be sure of the species.
 
John L said:
I have quite a large stock of both blackwood and ebony. If Madagascar ebony and of high grade..it is much blacker. Blackwood is black with brown streaks....subtle but brown streaks. I much prefer Madagascar ebony...jet black. There are literally hundreds of ebonies and have to be sure of the species.
Click to expand...

Thanks for adding this John. There is also the question of age. Old growth ebony has the more desirable tight grain pattern. The newer stuff which is grown for modern day consumption has a much loser grain pattern and is not the same as the stuff from the early-mid 1800's through say around the early to maybe mid 1900's. As it pertains to knife scales. And musical instruments. The faster growth woods do not process the same repellent qualities, water for example, nor density, of the older growth woods. This is a much abbreviated statement but ......
 
As a whole, the Blackwood comes more consistently black and the Ebony comes with a bit of brown streaking. The Blackwood seems to have a tighter grain and the factory says it tests a bit more dense.
 
From The Wood Database:

"To be considered the original ebony, African Blackwood was imported and used in Ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. Even the name “ebony” has an Egyptian derivation as “hbny”—which has been shown to refer primarily to Dalbergia melanoxylon, rather than the species which are considered to be ebony today: such as those in the Diospyros genus. In addition, African Blackwood is technically in the Rosewood genus (Dalbergia), and is more stable and resistant to movement and warping than other types of ebony."

I didn't know that.
 
From what I understand the African Blackwood is the hardest, densest and heaviest of all woods. My #85 EO weighs almost 4 pounds!

(Just kidding!) :)
 
Thank's for the replies so far guys - all very interesting to me!

Mike, I have one of your SFO Conductors in Gabon (or is it Gaboon? - seen it both ways) Ebony from a couple years ago, and it's probably the tightest, blackest, most streak-free of the Ebony knives I have.

Brad, I don't have any older Ebony knives such as the one's you're talking about, but maybe I'll have to try to change that. ;)

Arizonaranchman, you had me for a sec or two there! :)
 
African Blackwood is my favorite of the dark woods used on traditional folders these days. I love the slick and dense feel it has.

I like Gabon Ebony a lot as well, and I prefer it to the seemingly more common Macassar Ebony. The Gabon seems consistently more dark with less grain irregularities than the Macassar.
 
As has been stated, the appearance of ebony varies dramatically depending on the species. Most of the ebony that GEC has been using looks more like macassar to me, mostly dark brownish with some lighter streaking. Gabon ebony is usually solid black.

African blackwood is a little denser and harder than ebony, but both are so dense and hard that this should not be a deciding factor.

African blackwood is a rosewood (dalbergia) and has a high natural oil content.

If GEC were to offer a barehead 73 in african blackwood I would find it very hard to resist. I'm already having trouble fighting the urge to get the abilene in african blackwood.
 
Ebony is almost like stag to me. You won't what you're going to get unless you have the knife in hand or have a picture of it.

Here are a couple of knives with ebony covers.

dsc0018tn.jpg


The covers on the 2010 moose are jet black. The ones on the barlow are more of a really dark brown, with lighter brown streaks running throughout.

- Christian
 
coyote711 said:
I'd like to know how African Blackwood compares to Ebony
Click to expand...

since you own Ebony already, I think you will want to get a Blackwood so you can form your own impressions.. here are some of mine

Gec Ebony is Macassar, which is known for having chocolate streaks.
There was one run of Charlows with Gabon Ebony, not currently available from GEC.
Gabon tends to be blacker than Macassar. There is no Madagascar ebony in GECs stable.

Some of the Macassar that GEC has is all black though, its luck of the draw. African Blackwood is denser, and more translucent than Ebony.

The specific gravity of Macassar Ebony is 65, for African Blackwood it is 75. Some of the Blackwood has chocolate swirls, but the ones I received on my Charlows is all black. I personally, for some reason I can't put my finger, do not like African Blackwood, and prefer Ebony.

more trivia, Blackwood is in the same family as Cocobolo, and Rosewood.

some of my earlier posts about Ebony
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ow?p=12625021&highlight=macassar#post12625021

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ow?p=12687741&highlight=macassar#post12687741
 
Here's the Ebony on my new #73L,......
P1060821_zpsa963cefa.jpg


Always feels very smooth and warm in the hand,

Kris,.
 
I think I can "put my finger on it" Jon. African Blackwood is so hard, black, dense and glossy that at first glance it can be easily mistaken for a synthetic like Delrin. Nobody wants a premium knife with artificial scales.
 
Interesting discussion. I only have experience of ebony, which I like very much.
 
Does the high natural oil content in Afr Blkwd give it a degree of protection from moisture and/or perspiration then?

Is a light coating of mineral oil (or what would you guys suggest) on these blackwood scales good now n then? Or just leave it alone?
 
I've nothing to contribute to this thread, but I find it very informative. Interesting information.

KrisNZ said:
Here's the Ebony on my new #73L,......
P1060821_zpsa963cefa.jpg


Always feels very smooth and warm in the hand,

Kris,.
Click to expand...

Those scales remind me of roasted almonds for some reason.
 
I always loved both, but I tend to prefer darker tones with less grains, so I do prefer African blackwood myself :)

phvc.jpg


Fausto
:cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top